WIRELESS NETWORK OF LOW POWER SENSING AND ACTUATING MOTES

• US 20140257699A1
• Filed: 08/13/2013
• Published: 09/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hamann, Hendrik F., Klein, Levente I., Bermudez, Sergio A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,811,059 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/3
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/00 Meteorology
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/02 Instruments for indicating weather conditions by measuring two or more variables, e.g. humidity, pressure, temperature, cloud cover or wind speed G01W1/10 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/00 Digital computers in general details G06F1/00 – G06F13/00; Data processing equipment in general
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/18 Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

Embodiments include a wireless mote network having a plurality of motes, wherein each of the plurality of motes includes a processing unit in communication with a communications device. Each of the motes includes at least a sensor configured to monitor an environmental condition in an area around the mote or an actuator configured to control one or more external systems. The wireless mote network also includes a central communications device configured to communicate with one or more of the motes within a range of the central communications device and a controller configured to communicate with the central communications device, to receive one or more signals indicative of the environmental condition of one or more of the plurality of motes, and to transmit one or more control signals indicating an operation of the actuator to one or more of the plurality of motes.

Claims

1. A wireless mote network comprising:

a plurality of motes, wherein each of the plurality of motes includes a processing unit in communication with a communications device and at least of one of;

a sensor configured to monitor an environmental condition in an area around the mote; and

an actuator configured to control one or more external systems;

a central communications device configured to communicate with one or more of the plurality of motes within a range of the central communications device; and

a controller configured to communicate with the central communications device, to receive one or more signals indicative of the environmental condition of one or more of the plurality of motes, and to transmit one or more control signals indicating an operation of the actuator to one or more of the plurality of motes.

2. The wireless mote network of claim 1, wherein one or more of the plurality of motes further includes an interface configured enable the mote to electrically communicate with an external device.

3. The wireless mote network of claim 2, wherein interfaces includes at least one of an RS-233 serial communication interface, an Ethernet interface, or an USB interface.

4. The wireless mote network of claim 1, wherein the controller includes a server configured to generating a map of the relative location of the plurality of motes.

5. The wireless mote network of claim 4, wherein the server generates the map based signal strength indicator data received from each of the plurality of motes.

6. The wireless mote network of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of motes further includes a power supply comprising at least two of a battery, a line power adapter, and an energy harvesting device.

7. The wireless mote network of claim 6, wherein the energy harvesting device is a solar panel capable of being powered by indoor lighting.

8. The wireless mote network of claim 1, wherein the environmental condition of the mote comprises at least one of the following:

temperature;

humidity;

pressure;

air flow;

CO₂ level;

CO level;

presence;

noise;

strain;

stress; and

corrosion.

9. The wireless mote network of claim 1, wherein the external system is a lighting control system or an air conditioning system and the actuator is a latching relay used for simple on-off type of control.

10. The wireless mote network of claim 1, wherein one or more of the plurality of motes further includes an RFID reader.

11. A computer system for indoor localization of a wireless mote network having a plurality of motes, the computer system comprising a processor being configured to:

instruct each of the plurality of motes to sequentially emit a signal;

instruct each of the plurality of motes to record data corresponding to each of the signals observed the mote;

instruct each of the plurality of motes to transmit the recorded data to the computer system;

generate a map of the relative location of the plurality of motes;

take a control action based on the sensed data by the motes.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the computer system generates the map based on signal strength indicator data received from each of the plurality of motes.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the signal emitted by each of the plurality of motes comprises an identification number of a mote that emitted the signal and a time that the signal was emitted.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the data corresponding to each of the signals observed the mote comprises the identification number of the mote that emitted the signal, the time that the signal was emitted, the identification number of the mote that observed the signal and the time that the signal was observed.

15. The computer system of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of motes comprises a synchronous clock.

16. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the computer system communicates with the plurality of motes through a central communications device configured to communicate with one or more of the plurality of motes within a range of the central communications device.